VISIT ONLINE THE “GRIGORE ANTIPA” NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

The “Grigore Antipa” Museum of Natural History Museum in Bucharest has celebrated in 2008 a century since its opening in the present building. On 24th of May 1908, in the presence of the king Carol I, of the royal family, of the ministers and president of Romanian Academy, Anghel Saligny, took place the opening of the Museum of Zoology in the new building. Sixteen halls, where the very first biogeographical dioramas of the world (“Sahara Desert”, “African Savannah”, “American Prairie”, and “Arctic Tundra”) were displayed, could be visited. Later, they became models for the other similar institutions of the world: Berlin, Paris, New-York, Sankt Petersburg.

By those almost 2 million specimens (some of them of microscopic size), grouped in over 130 types of collections, “Grigore Antipa” Museum has a very rich and diversified patrimony.
Museum has zoological collections of most of the invertebrate and vertebrate animal groups (including fossils) and also collections of comparative anatomy, geology (minerals and rocks), ethnography and anthropology, dioramas and biogroups.
In the collections, the most important place, from scientifical point of view, is that of the specimens used in the description of some new species to science (all over the world), the so-called type specimens, which sum up over 6,000 specimens belonging to different animal groups, especially to foreign fauna. To most of them “Grigore Antipa” Museum is the single museum of the world where they can be studied by specialists.

In the spirit of honouring the history of this institution, we have decided that it is time to create a more modern permanent exhibition, based on the Museum’s impressive patrimony. Therefore, the Museum will be closed during the year 2009 for renovation and modernization of the permanent exhibition.

The Museum being closed for public, it is a wonderful occasion for us to step out of the traditional space of the institution and develop other ways of getting in touch with the public. This being said, we invite you to visit the “Grigore Antipa” online. Enjoy!